Reinforcing bars, or rebars as they are called in the construction industry, are used in a wide variety of applications. The reinforcing bar is a piece of cylindrical steel, having a maximum diameter of 21/2 inches and having an uneven exterior surface. Reinforcing bars come in a variety of standard lengths. Among the longest are 40 foot bars. It may be appreciated that, if a longer bar is desired to be used, it is necessary to join, end-to-end, two or more reinforcing bars in some fashion.
It is well-known in the industry to splice a first and second reinforcing bars end-to-end by means of a rebar splicing collar into which molten metal is poured. The rebar splicing collar is tubular in configuration, and accepts a pair of ends of the reinforcing bars to be joined. A quantity of molten filler metal is poured into the space between the reinforcing bars and the interior of the splicing section, and hardens therein, thus joining the bars and the splicing section together. In use, this type of splicing is convenient, but does present some difficulties. When splicing vertical bars together, particularly 21/2 inch diameter or number 18 bars, it is necessary that a crane hold the upper reinforcing bar in place while the metal hardens within the collar. This process typically takes half an hour. Currently, cost of construction crane time is typically about $200.00 per hour. Thus, it may be appreciated that a cost of $100.00 per splice merely for the use of crane time is a very expensive reinforcing bar splice.
What is needed, then, is a holder which can hold a pair of heavy reinforcing bar sections in spaced proximity to allow their joinder by a reinforcing bar splicing device, as above mentioned. Clamps of the holder should have a variable jaw size to enable various diameters of reinforcing bars to be used. In addition, the variable jaw size is necessary in order that two reinforcing bars having different diameters may be spliced together.